Hearth in Town Parks (kells Upper By.)

Situated on a fairly level landscape. Archaeological testing (04E0916) by S. Delaney (2005) at Testing Area 11 of Contract 4 of the M3 motorway identified (excavations.ie 2004:1271) archaeological material that was partially excavated (E003148) in December 2006 and January 2007 by C. Gleeson (2010) as Town Parks 2 when an area of 1300 square metres was opened in two areas, and some hearths and pits were recorded (excavations.ie 2007:1396). In Area B an oval pit (dims 2.9m NW-SE; c. 1.3m NE-SW; D 0.45m) with five fills of variously coloured sandy clays is interpreted as a possible hearth or fire-pit. A sample of young oak charcoal from a basal fill provided a C14 date of 4324-4245 cal. BC (UBA 12114), placing it in the later Mesolithic. This large pit is beside a smaller, shallower hearth (dims 0.65m x 0.35m; D 0.2m) with a basal deposit of orange/yellow sandy clay. The area was cut by numerous NE-SW post-medieval furrows and some large NW-SE post-medieval refuse pits. (Gleeson 2010) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 11 March 2022